A father who was reunited with his two children who disappeared nearly a year ago with their non-custodial mother says the kids are still “in shock,” but hopes counseling will “give them a fighting chance in life.”

Blake Gilley said his children were not physically harmed. But he could see an emotional toll on them from the nearly yearlong ordeal.

“You can see this is bothering them,” Gilley said in an interview Monday with NBC News.

The two children, Brooke, 11, and Adrian, 12, were spotted Thursday with Kristi Gilley, their non-custodial mother, at a Winn Dixie supermarket in High Springs, Florida, near Gainesville. They had disappeared March 15, 2022, from Clay County, Missouri, about 1,100 miles away.

Police ran a routine check on Gilley’s license plates and discovered then there was a parental kidnapping warrant for her arrest.

Kristi GIlley was held without bail. She pleaded not guilty in her initial court appearance on Monday. The Florida Department of Children and Families reunited the children with their father Friday.

Police said Kristi Gilley and the children were passing through the High Springs area, had no residency connection to Alachua County, Florida, and were not enrolled in any schools. They appeared to be headed for an Airbnb.

Blake Gilley, who now lives in Texas, told NBC that the children said they had not been to school since they disappeared and that they avoided detection by bouncing from one rural Airbnb to another in multiple states.

The children told him that “Kristi would never tell them what town they were in or anything,” adding: “If they were in a car, they had to keep their heads down. My son still does that.”

The children said their mother instructed them not to speak or to look anyone in the eyes, Blake Gilley said. He said that because of that, his son will “just look at the ground.”

Blake Gilley said he and Kristi divorced in 2016, but she and the children disappeared last March before a custody dispute could be resolved in Clay County.

Court records from Clay County said the pair had a joint custody agreement out of Randall County, Texas, before April 14. But Blake Gilley was granted sole custody after Kristi failed to appear in court, according to court documents.

“Kristi had been making it increasingly more difficult for Blake to visit or speak to the children for quite some time and had refused to let Blake visit or speak to the children at all, since 3/15/2022,” NBC said, citing the court report.

Maurice McDaniel, Kristi Gilley’s lawyer, told NBC she denies allegations that she kept her children hidden by bouncing from one Airbnb to another. He said she plans to fight extradition to Missouri and wants to become a Florida resident.